Officials Have Found No Evidence of Code Inspections at Ghost Ship Warehouse, Despite Numerous Complaints

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A drone flies over investigators Monday outside the Oakland warehouse where at least 36 people died on Dec. 2, 2016. (Credit: Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

Officials Have Found No Evidence of Code Inspections at Ghost Ship Warehouse, Despite Numerous Complaints

A drone flies over investigators Monday outside the Oakland warehouse where at least 36 people died on Dec. 2, 2016. (Credit: Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

As investigators probed the cause of a warehouse fire that killed 36 people, Oakland city officials faced more scrutiny over their handling of complaints about the building in the years before the blaze.

Despite numerous complaints about conditions both inside and outside the warehouse, city officials have so far not produced any evidence that either fire or building code inspectors entered the building.

On Friday, one source inside Oakland city government told The Times the address of the warehouse was not even found on the fire marshal’s inspection system, prompting questions about how well that system was maintained.

The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said some of the firefighters who responded to the catastrophic fire the night of Dec. 2 knew the building was dangerous. But for reasons that remain unclear, their concerns and those of others in the community who complained about the so-called Ghost Ship didn’t prompt action, the source said.